ABSTRACT

Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have become the implementation medium for the majority of digital circuits. The key to FPGAs’ popularity is their feature to support application implementation by appropriately (re-)configuring the functionality of hardware resources. This allows FPGAs to provide higher flexibility, rapid product prototyping and significantly reduced non-recurring engineering (NRE) costs, as compared to ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit) devices. Additionally, this situation makes the FPGA paradigm to grow in importance, as there is a stronger demand for faster, smaller, cheaper, and lower-energy devices.